Comments

wonderflex

Science

The Future of Public Transportation Will Involve Personal Helicopters, Mag-Lev Cars and Zeppelins

By Stuart Fox Posted on 10.1.2009 1 Comments
Ranging from the simple, like publicly available electric bikes and moving sidewalks, to the more futuristic, like a personal helicopter backpack and personal maglev car/pods, a new vision breaks down the future of public transportation. In the latest issue of European Union Infrastructure Magazine, it features the pros, cons and feasibility of implementing the world's most advanced public transportation system.

10.1.2009 at 01:39pm - Comment by wonderflex

As history of these types of articles seem to show, some of these ideas will be injected into current transportation systems, and almost none of them will be used as new mode of transit. Just read through all of the old Popular Mechanics articles on trasportation: http://blog.modernmechanix.com/category/transportation/
Science

Have Scientists Finally Found the Elusive Magnetic Monopole?

By Susannah F. Locke Posted on 9.8.2009 9 Comments
A long-hypothesized particle, stuff of tantalizing detection attempts and thrilling sci-fi novels, may have finally been sighted.

9.9.2009 at 11:59am - Comment by wonderflex

Monopole is an magnetic object with only a north or south pole. Like the article says, if you cut an object standard object with a north and south pole in half the new ends always form an opposite pole. Example: If a magnet has it's south end pointing down and it's north end pointing up, and then you cut it in half, you would not have a north manget and a south magnet. Instead the newly cut ends would just form new opposite poles from the origional ends. A monopole object is able to contain only one of the ends - either just a north, or just a south. This is actually a big discovery because of the impact it could have on many scietific fields - especially that of transportation.
Gadgets

Asus's New E-Reader Looks More Like a Real, Live Book

By Posted on 9.8.2009 8 Comments
For a lot of people, e-book readers are a long game of "I'll buy it when..." For some, the rest of that sentence is "it has a color screen," and for others it's "it's cheaper." Asus's upcoming Eee Reader (due by the end of this year) delivers on both counts. Oh, and it will have two screens, too.

9.9.2009 at 11:53am - Comment by wonderflex

Meh. Color is nice, but E-ink is just too nice to read to be willing to change things up for me. I'll wait out for color e-ink and one screen.
Science

Have Scientists Finally Found the Elusive Magnetic Monopole?

By Susannah F. Locke Posted on 9.8.2009 9 Comments
A long-hypothesized particle, stuff of tantalizing detection attempts and thrilling sci-fi novels, may have finally been sighted.

9.8.2009 at 01:01pm - Comment by wonderflex

Way to go Susannah for being one of the few people left on your crew to report science without spin! It's refreshing.
The Environment

U.S. Chamber of Commerce Seeks To Sue EPA Over Global Warming

By Stuart Fox Posted on 8.25.2009 57 Comments
In an attempt to head off new emissions standards, the U.S. Chamber of Commerce is threatening to sue the Environmental Protection Agency. The Chamber is calling it the Scopes Monkey Trial of the 21st Century, and wants to put the evidence supporting global warming on trial in a court of law.

8.26.2009 at 05:06pm - Comment by wonderflex

I'm going to have to agree with some of those above - there is still a large body of flaws in believing that full scale evolution caused humanity. I do suggest you read the works of many scientists who don't belive that anything other than micro-evolution is real.
Entertainment & Gaming

Tested: The Sports Drink from Space

By Mike Haney Posted on 7.7.2009 5 Comments
Editor Mike Haney is training for the New York City Marathon with all the help from high-end running tech he can get. Read his previous posts here. Did you know that several of the NASA research centers scattered around the country keep lists on their Web sites of the technologies they have available to license and sell to the public? Neither did I, but that's why I'm not launching businesses like David Belaga is. He's the CEO of Wellness Brands, which plucked a beverage NASA developed to keep astronauts hydrated and just started selling it as The Right Stuff, a concentrate for elite athletes that want to separate their electrolyte intake from their carb intake (carbs in sports drinks typically being some form of sugar). I consider myself more of an elite non-athlete, but on a few recent runs, I poured some Right Stuff vials into bottles of water to see if it helped keep my whistle wet.

7.7.2009 at 11:08pm - Comment by wonderflex

...yeah, whitesites, I'm sure that NASA couldn't come up with something better than your company. (insert sarcasm here)
Entertainment & Gaming

Tested: The Sports Drink from Space

By Mike Haney Posted on 7.7.2009 5 Comments
Editor Mike Haney is training for the New York City Marathon with all the help from high-end running tech he can get. Read his previous posts here. Did you know that several of the NASA research centers scattered around the country keep lists on their Web sites of the technologies they have available to license and sell to the public? Neither did I, but that's why I'm not launching businesses like David Belaga is. He's the CEO of Wellness Brands, which plucked a beverage NASA developed to keep astronauts hydrated and just started selling it as The Right Stuff, a concentrate for elite athletes that want to separate their electrolyte intake from their carb intake (carbs in sports drinks typically being some form of sugar). I consider myself more of an elite non-athlete, but on a few recent runs, I poured some Right Stuff vials into bottles of water to see if it helped keep my whistle wet.

7.7.2009 at 02:35pm - Comment by wonderflex

Cool. Are there any claims to be made here - such as it being better than other products? Is there any science to help back up if it helps at all? You guys should some sort of trials with groups of people.
Gadgets

Three Things the Palm Pre Does Better Than the iPhone 3GS

By Posted on 6.10.2009 42 Comments
Can you believe that only two or three years ago, the trope of cellphones used in America being so far inferior to what was available in Korea or even Europe was pounded to the point of cliché? Now, it’s on its head: the complete opposite is true. And for that, a lot of thanks goes to Apple. No doubt about that. But the Pre and especially its webOS software is so interesting because it’s the first phone to actually build on the trail blazed by the iPhone in some truly key areas of functionality. And what’s more American than some good ol’ fashioned competition begetting forward-looking innovation that elevates the playing field for all?

6.10.2009 at 05:38pm - Comment by wonderflex

How many things does it NOT do better?
Gadgets

Bing Is Pretty, But Is it Any Good?

By Tom Conlon Posted on 6.5.2009 20 Comments
Heard of Bing yet? If not, you soon will. Backed by a reported $100-million-dollar promotional campaign, Bing is Microsoft's latest grasp at double digits in the war for search engine market share, of which Redmond now owns between 5 and 6 percent (according to Net Applications' Market Share report). After months of beta testing followed by a public preview, Bing officially took over this week as THE search engine powering all of MSN. So, if you use any Microsoft services with even limited frequency, you'll be getting friendly with Bing whether you know it or not, and whether you like it or not. But Microsoft isn't going to carve out a fatter slice of market share unless it can convince a new, non-MSN audience to abandon Google and to make Bing its second brain instead. Of course, there has to be good reason to do that. Very good reason. So this week I installed the official Bing add-on to Firefox and put the new kid on the block to the test.

6.5.2009 at 05:13pm - Comment by wonderflex

I agree. The second that this site turned into blog-format it seemed to have lost connection with the magazine. Why are we reading an article on rather or not one web service is better than another? Isn't this an article more aptly suited for Engadget or Gizmondo?
Science

Hunting The Elusive Fat Pill

By Posted on 2.19.2009 24 Comments
As magic little pills go, the weight-loss drug rimonabant was destined to be huge. It was supposed to put a dent in the obesity epidemic and help people quit smoking and improve their cholesterol along the way. Pharmaceutical execs expected it to usher in a new class of drugs bigger than cholesterol-controlling statins, like Lipitor, Pfizer’s $1-billion-a-month blockbuster.

2.20.2009 at 01:56pm - Comment by wonderflex

"...the vast majority of overweight people need to stop being lazy and exercise." Although this sounds good in theory, if you talk with sports-rehab therapists you will be given a different picture. Most people assume that eating right and exercising will solve the problems for the overweight without taking into concideration the amount of abuse that excercise places on the body. Pinched nerves in the lower back. Blown out knees. Twisted ankles. Ruptured disks. And the list goes on. To safely workout requires a large amount of planning and usually a fair deal of money in safety equipment. If you go tell an obese person to go out and start a slow pace on a treadmill the next day you may wind up with a person so sore that they never want to return to it.